- 7 hours ago
Dirty Business - Season 1 - Episode 02: Ecocide
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TVTranscript
00:17They're allowed to dump untreated sewage, but that can't be right.
00:22There's something weird about this.
00:24Think that's poo?
00:25Of course, it's not poo.
00:27Wash it up, scrubby!
00:28Heather's brain has lost the ability to control her vital organs.
00:32I think it's time we consider turning off her ventilators.
00:34We've got to get this to the Environment Agency.
00:36They're the sewage police.
00:37We want to strip out as much unnecessary regulation as possible.
00:43They make Del Boy do like a fucking amateur.
00:45When the everyday flows are missing, they're not treating the sewage.
00:49And if they're not treating the sewage, there's nowhere for it to go.
00:52Except into the river.
00:53Regulate yourselves, and then just let us know if you've committed any crimes.
00:58They've dumped sewage a thousand times.
01:01These aren't accidents.
01:03It's a policy.
01:04This is starting to look like organised crime.
01:07Fuck!
01:10It's only now that it's coming to light.
01:12Thank goodness for the people's regulator, Peter Hamm.
01:15And thank you.
01:16Thank goodness for Ash.
01:17Thank goodness for the public who are standing up and showing you what's really going on around the world.
01:29Hi, Amy Christophers, Citizens Against Southwest Water.
01:36When Peter decoded these spreadsheets, we realised that the company had been dumping sewage into our river for years.
01:49Me and the machines, we are now investigating hundreds, hundreds of these sewage works using the data from each one
02:00of them.
02:02You know they've got to go down to, um, Whitstable this weekend.
02:07What, Saturday?
02:08Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:11They've got these two people that have been working at the agency.
02:13It says that the Southern Water solicitors have been threatening them.
02:20Oh, you know about Charles and Camilla?
02:23Charles and Camilla were coming down for the Whitstable Oyster Festival, right?
02:29But when they tested him, they were so full of shit, they had to give them oysters imported from France.
02:35All over the local news.
02:37Whitstable's oysters under threat from sewage leaks.
02:40Sewage spills threaten to wipe out Whitstable's oyster farmers.
02:43People were very fucked off.
02:48Look at the amount of effluent.
02:53So, Southern Water, you're not releasing sewerage into the sea.
02:57And by then, the Environment Agency had no choice.
03:00They had to launch an investigation.
03:02You made a mistake of putting us in charge.
03:04We're the ones in the trenches.
03:06We take things seriously.
03:07There are still a few of us left.
03:08But we had no clue what we were letting ourselves in for, did we?
03:12All right.
03:12No.
03:13What are you doing?
03:14Pull my back out this morning.
03:16Hello?
03:19Hello, it's John Bull from the Environment Agency.
03:21Have you got an appointment?
03:22Tell them I'm waving.
03:23Tell them I'm waving.
03:27Bega, go on.
03:28Go on.
03:28Right.
03:28Jump up and down.
03:29All right.
03:30That's it. I'm not...
03:30Honestly, I can't stand up for too long today.
03:33Sit down, mate.
03:33We know you're in there.
03:35We are not leaving.
03:36We have an appointment.
03:36It's now...
03:38Cheese mayo spring onion.
03:40Almost looks like one word, then.
03:44Press one.
03:45To speak to no one.
03:47Press two.
03:47To speak to no one.
03:49To speak to no one.
03:50Press three.
03:52To give up all hope.
03:54Same bollocks every works we went.
03:56Chichester.
03:57Millbrook.
03:58Slow Hill.
03:58Fulham.
04:00So many times just refusing us entry.
04:03Sometimes just snatch the load books right out of our hands.
04:06Or just tell us to fuck off.
04:08When you get chicken from a supermarket, it's got the plastic covering on, right?
04:12Yeah.
04:13Lift that off, leave it for a few minutes because it automatically smells of fish.
04:17And people get scared, think they're going to get food poisoning.
04:20That's when they throw it away.
04:21But if you leave it for a bit, let the air come out, right?
04:24I don't know.
04:24It just smells of chicken.
04:25Then you can cook it.
04:26Something burning.
04:27Oh.
04:29Hiya.
04:30Miss Humphries?
04:31Yeah?
04:32Yeah, yeah.
04:32Well, we've made an appointment.
04:35Oh, sorry.
04:36Is that you guys?
04:37Yeah.
04:37Yeah, we've been here somewhere else.
04:39We've been buzzing.
04:39Oh.
04:40We're at 9.15.
04:41Come on.
04:42Oh, 9.15.
04:43Yes, 9.
04:44As opposed to?
04:46Er...
04:473.15.
04:47Yeah.
04:48Right.
04:48Can we just get in there, please?
04:49Can you buzz us in?
04:50He's got a bad back.
04:51Alright.
04:51Come on.
04:52Oh, my God.
04:54What?
04:54Is your buzzer broken?
04:56No.
04:57Have you worked here long?
05:00Er...
05:00I wouldn't say long.
05:03Yeah.
05:04There's two really nice stools you can sit on.
05:08So...
05:09Poppy, can I just ask, these are the engineer's logbooks, right?
05:12Yeah, I think they go back, like, ten years.
05:15We can do this.
05:16So, how...
05:16How much do you read?
05:18Erm, and we've got enough to be getting home with.
05:20Alright.
05:20Well, we'll give you a shout if we need you.
05:22Is that alright?
05:22Yeah.
05:23Good.
05:24Great.
05:24Do you want me to go?
05:26Erm...
05:27Storm turn for fall.
05:28Yeah.
05:29Storm sun go and flow.
05:30They've had to triple reset.
05:32Brilliant.
05:33You've got nothing there, right?
05:35What, on the status report?
05:35Yeah.
05:36But on these status reports, it's 12 as well.
05:38That's 12, right?
05:38Mr. Paul.
05:39David Marwood, Southern Water.
05:41Oh.
05:41Good to meet you.
05:42Nice to meet you.
05:43I am gonna have to ask you to hand back these logbooks, please.
05:47Erm, they are proprietary material.
05:50Sorry, I don't...
05:51These books, they are the property of Southern Water.
05:54The engineer logbooks, yeah.
05:55You have gained access to them unlawfully.
05:57Erm, no.
05:58I'm asking you to hand them back.
06:00Unlawfully?
06:00These are the property of Southern Water.
06:03You gaining access to them is illegal.
06:05If you just hand it over...
06:06We are...
06:07Sorry, look.
06:08Sorry, what was your name again?
06:09Do you not wanna see me?
06:10Mr. Marwood, we are conducting an investigation under section 108 of the environmental life.
06:15We are well within alright.
06:16Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
06:18Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
06:20Mr. Marwood, you are obstructing our investigation under section 108 of the environmental act.
06:25That's what, John?
06:27Right.
06:27What you're doing is unlawful.
06:28Please, leave.
06:30Let's just go.
06:31Let's just go.
06:33Get them here.
06:34We'll be back, Mr. Marwood.
06:38Sandwiches.
06:43Criminal offence.
06:46You know, it took us seven years.
06:49Seven years.
06:51We need some in the hand.
06:54Southern Water has been sentenced to pay a record £90 million fine after pleading guilty...
07:00They pled guilty to 6,971 crimes, composited into 51 counts.
07:05First day.
07:06Each dump is punishable by five years in prison.
07:10But instead, the judge just fined them.
07:13Ninety million.
07:14Cost of doing business.
07:16They dumped 7,400 Olympic swimming pools of raw shite with the knowledge of the board.
07:22They were making so much money, these fines weren't touching the sides.
07:26But this time they were committed to a culture change, which is why Toby Willison came in.
07:31Who is Toby Willison?
07:34Oh, you don't know about Toby Willison?
07:38So, Toby was number two in the Environment Agency under Sir James, but then Southern poached him a year before
07:45they were sentenced.
07:46They told the judge that he was going to run a clean-up operation within the company.
07:50He saw that as a mitigating factor.
07:53Reducing the fine from £120 million to £90 million.
07:57Sorry.
07:58You hire the second most senior person at the regulator who is actually prosecuting you.
08:05And you get a £30 million discount on your fine.
08:09But that isn't...
08:11I mean, that's corruption, isn't it?
08:13Well, we can see how it might have the appearance of corruption, but it wasn't.
08:18You see, there's a revolving door.
08:21People leave the agency and go and work for the companies they're regulating all the time.
08:25It's just the way the industry works.
08:28When the agency brought the case against Southern, was this Toby Willison in charge?
08:33Well, we know he was acting chief exec at some point.
08:36Was he deciding who you guys were going to prosecute?
08:42We didn't prosecute any water company execs.
08:45We never have.
08:48You and I can probably remember as kids swimming in the sea and being surrounded by floating fecal material.
08:59I've certainly experienced that now, not as kids.
09:02You look at the quality of our bathing waters now and it is unrecognisable from 20, 25 years ago.
09:09And that is a direct result of the massive amount of investment that water companies have put into the networks.
09:18Remarkable.
09:19Well, I don't believe any of that.
09:20Well, James Murray joins us now.
09:21You're not going to believe this one.
09:24Toby Willison.
09:25Yeah, what about him?
09:26You know the lobby group funded by the water companies?
09:29Yeah.
09:30Willison has been on their board since 2019.
09:33You mean after he went to Southern Water?
09:35No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
09:36He's been on the board of British Water while he was working for the agency.
09:40That means that the number two at the Environment Agency is at a side hustle working for the water companies.
09:49But water quality is now better than any time since the Industrial Revolution, thanks to tougher regulations by the Environment
09:57Agency.
09:57So this is Toby Willison's boss, is it?
09:59Yeah.
10:00He's at the very, very top.
10:02Liz Truss was the Environment Minister and she made him head of the Environment Agency.
10:07I don't know why she chose him.
10:09She seems to think the Environment Agency is part of the deep state.
10:13That's because the Environment Agency will not...
10:15What?
10:15...hesitate to go after water companies who cause serious pollution.
10:18But he's at the very top, isn't it?
10:20He's the one we need to get to.
10:22He's our man.
10:32The agency said that she could have contracted E. coli from dog poo.
10:37The little girl who died?
10:38Mmm.
10:39I've been looking for another case where, like, dog feces has triggered an E. coli.
10:44And you can't find one?
10:46Outbreak?
10:46No.
10:47No, out there.
10:48But there aren't any.
10:52Hi, is that Julie?
10:54Hi, this is Chris Hines.
10:57Yes, I work for an organisation called Surfers Against Sewage.
11:01Listen, Julie, I'm down at the beach at Dawlish Warren.
11:05I think we really need to speak.
11:08No, I've always been a surfer.
11:10I moved to Cornwall when I was 19, lived in a caravan, just so I could surf every day.
11:16But everyone was getting sick all the time.
11:18There was this one day when I came up under this huge wave.
11:21I found a sanitary towel stuck to the back of my head and a turd lodged between my chest and
11:27the board.
11:28I thought, this has got to stop.
11:30So we founded Surfers Against Sewage in my caravan.
11:33And it was not long after that that we all went to Parliament in our wetsuits.
11:38We were trying to get the message out about clean water and we didn't do a good enough job.
11:42I picked Dawlish because it had a blue flag.
11:47Of course you did.
11:47Because the blue flag is the gold standard for water quality.
11:51It's meant to mean that the water's clean.
11:53The council, they've set up an investigation team.
11:57If it finds that sewage killed Heather, it's going to be a calamity for business here.
12:02My guess is they're going to be looking for any explanation so long as it's not sewage.
12:08Thanks all for being here at this start-up meeting for the outbreak investigation team.
12:13Sorry, I wonder if we should be calling it an outbreak.
12:18Feels like the kind of term that could alarm people.
12:20I think cluster might be better messaging.
12:23Of course, the quality of the bathing water at Dawlish is consistently high.
12:27That's a really good point. I mean, that will be reflected in the report.
12:30We know there have been some complaints about sewage on the beaches.
12:34Thanks, Sarah, that's right.
12:35We were contacted by members of the public about this and we did send inspectors out.
12:41In the event, there'd been just a single spill on July 24th.
12:45A full four days before the Preen's visited the beach.
12:48So it's very unlikely that the spill could have had an impact.
12:51And we know that although the Preen's went to the beach on several occasions, Heather never swam in the water.
12:57So with sewage looking unlikely as a culprit, we're focusing on fast food and dog faeces.
13:04Mr. and Mrs. Preen?
13:07We were so sorry to hear about Heather.
13:11Yeah, it must be such a difficult time.
13:14But we just need to ask you a few questions.
13:17Could I ask you about the fast food your family's been eating since you got to Dawlish?
13:22So you want to know what we had to eat?
13:24Any takeaways, burgers?
13:26No, we ate in the shallow.
13:28Chicken chops, chippies, any fast food at all?
13:30No.
13:31We didn't have any burgers, we didn't have any fast food, to be honest.
13:34We were on a bit of a budget, so...
13:36When you went to the beach, how much dog poo did you see?
13:39Look, we didn't see any dog droppings.
13:41We saw human sewage.
13:43So what do you want to know about dog poo?
13:45Because if Heather had stepped in something, she'd have told us.
13:48We have to look into every possible source.
13:53So, if you don't know what caused the infection, then you need to shut down the beach, don't you?
13:59Because other children could get this, and my daughter's dead, so you need to shut it down.
14:05That's not going to happen.
14:07After the investigation, there's going to be an inquest.
14:11I can get you a lawyer.
14:15There was an unplanned negligible spill on the 24th, four days before the Preenes visited the beach.
14:22The Dawlish Coast is a high dispersal area.
14:25The winds and currents are sufficiently strong that any sewage would have been dispersed long before the Preenes visited the
14:31beach.
14:31E. coli 0157 is not routinely found in sewage, and it's rare in water.
14:37The sea breaks down the bacteria, so there's no record of an E. coli 0157 infection from sea bathing in
14:45the UK.
14:45What kind of health risk would sewage on a footpath present?
14:50It's not for the Environment Agency to comment on a health risk.
14:56You don't have a view about whether sewage is a health risk?
15:00It's not within the remit or the expertise of the Environment Agency to comment on a public health risk.
15:11We walked along the coastal path every day.
15:16There was a discharge coming out from the pipe, and it made a puddle, you see.
15:24How big was the puddle?
15:26I don't know, three feet maybe.
15:30And it was spilling out onto the beach.
15:35It smelled like feces.
15:39And I could see there was little bits of pink toilet paper in it.
15:46So you walked around it?
15:48No, we jumped over it.
15:54Except, um...
15:55Heather didn't manage to clear it, and, um...
16:02She landed in the puddle that was coming from the pipe?
16:04Yeah.
16:06You couldn't stop her?
16:09What the...
16:11What...
16:12What didn't stop her?
16:14We...
16:16We didn't know.
16:19You say you saw the...
16:22the puddle every day?
16:24Yeah.
16:25You're aware that the Environment Agency has been unable to confirm any subsequent spills?
16:30That there was only one confirmed report of a spill during your holiday.
16:35Why do you think you were the only one who saw the puddle?
16:38I don't know.
16:42But I saw it.
16:43Is it possible that you've confused things in your memory?
16:45No, I saw it.
16:47We all saw it, didn't we?
16:53It was a puddle,
16:55and a little stream of poo.
16:56Mm-hmm.
16:59In the days running up to the Preen's visit,
17:01the Environment Agency received at least 14 complaints
17:07about sewage on the beach.
17:09In the week before Heather Preen fell ill,
17:12I treated two children with febrile gastroenteritis.
17:16The children had been swimming at the town beach,
17:20and then found themselves immersed in raw sewage.
17:23I reported it, but heard nothing more.
17:27In the days after the Preen's visit,
17:30Dorlish was inundated with feces.
17:33Big influxes of sewage debris were turning up on the beach.
17:37Our cleaners logged the number of sanitary towels.
17:41Southwest Water pays contractors to clean up the sewage by hand.
17:44Resort staff were cleaning away sewage as a matter of urgency.
17:52At least six other children were infected with the E. coli virus
17:56after being at the beach that day.
18:01Sophie Smith was seven months old.
18:05Back home in Walsall,
18:06she was diagnosed with an E. coli 0157 infection.
18:1111-year-old Jane Duncan was hospitalized with an E. coli 0157 infection.
18:20She bled through her anus 50 times in the first few days
18:24and asked her parents if she was going to die.
18:29Ashley, Ruby, and Dylan Hamlin,
18:31along with their mum, Claire, were all infected.
18:36Claire drove her son Dylan to hospital
18:38after they both began bleeding from their backsides.
18:44Doctors wouldn't admit Claire at first,
18:46so she cleared up her own blood and vomit from the toilets.
18:52Later, Dylan's sisters Ashley and Ruby were also admitted.
19:06There's no cure for E. coli.
19:09They keep you on a drip and hope for the best.
19:15Dylan's screaming was so frightening,
19:17his dad thought everyone was going to die.
19:21E. coli 0157 is a pathogen that thrives in sewage.
19:26It can survive in water for up to 91 days.
19:30Swimming in water, infected with E. coli,
19:33has been identified as the cause of multiple outbreaks.
19:38We tested the waters around Dawlish.
19:41Of the 45 samples taken, only two came back positive for E. coli 0157.
19:47The infected families were all on a part of the beach where dogs were allowed.
19:51They could all have criss-crossed the site of an infected dog faeces.
19:57None of us were on the same part of the beach.
20:00We never saw any dog poo.
20:03This map doesn't make any sense.
20:06Families went on the same part of the beach.
20:08No one saw any dog faeces.
20:11And there's no good evidence of transmission from dogs anywhere.
20:15Southwest Water and the Environment Agency present this improbable theory,
20:21whilst choosing to ignore repeated substantial sewage pollution.
20:26The Agency did carry out tests on the seawater.
20:30But the testing took place on the 27th of August.
20:35A full month after the infected families had visited the beach.
20:47Cunts.
20:50Fucking cunts.
20:50My mum.
20:54They twisted everything.
20:55I know, did you?
21:00I've been out of the down, haven't I?
21:01You've not been out of the down.
21:03You think I can ask Henry if I can do it again?
21:05No.
21:05No.
21:06What are you on about?
21:07You've done it.
21:08You've stuck up for her.
21:12You've stuck up for this family.
21:20We saw them sanitary towels, Jill.
21:24We saw the toilet roll.
21:26We...
21:28Didn't we?
21:32And we let our babies go back home.
21:37Not here.
21:38Not here.
21:39Not here.
21:54At first they said it was something we had to eat.
21:57But it wasn't, so...
21:59Then they came up with dog poo.
22:03But how could all of our kids walk through the same bit of poo without remembering?
22:10I would know if my child had touched poo.
22:17The one thing all our kids did do was go into the water.
22:22We saw the toilet roll.
22:25We saw the sanitary towels.
22:28You can't tell us we didn't see it, because we did, we saw it.
22:37I know now.
22:39We should have turned away from that beach.
22:42I know that.
22:46Heather's dad knows that.
22:51We will live with that.
22:53We chose Dawlish because of the blue flag, and we trusted it.
22:59The gold standard of water quality.
23:04We didn't know it was a lie.
23:12No one should have died the way my Heather died.
23:19She was poisoned, and the anti-sickness tablets they gave her meant her little body couldn't get rid of it.
23:29She was liquidised from the inside.
23:38We went on holiday, a family of four, and we've come back a family of three.
23:54And we don't want any money, don't worry.
23:58We don't want your money, so...
24:01We just...
24:02We want something to change.
24:07We don't want another family to go to the beach and come back with one less child.
24:15And you're still dumping sewage.
24:19And you...
24:21You're the Environment Agency.
24:25You're supposed to look after us, and you are sat here in this court, and you're swapping notes with Southwest
24:30Water. Why?
24:33And it took you, it took him one month, to go looking for the E.coli that killed my daughter?
24:41Why would you do that?
24:43Why would you do that?
24:45What is this?
24:50I would not wish what has happened to us on my worst enemy.
24:58I wouldn't wish it on your kids.
25:00It's...
25:03So...
25:04Please...
25:07Close the beach, please.
25:12Before this happens to somebody else.
25:15Please.
25:28Following an inquisition taken for our Sovereign Lady the Queen, touching on the death of Heather Amy Preen.
25:40The cause of death was E.coli poisoning.
25:46The deceased probably contracted E.coli whilst visiting the beach at Dawlish Warren on the 24th of July, along with
25:56other children who survived.
26:02I recommend that consideration be given to a notice warning the public of sewage discharges, and that an ultraviolet treatment
26:12should be added to the sewage works at Dawlish.
26:16Consideration should be given to greater enforcement of the dogs on the beach ban.
26:41The End
26:41June 2019, Sir James Bevan Environment Agency.
26:45Dear Sir James, I wrote to you to raise concerns about a serious integrity issue involving the agency.
26:52I did not receive any acknowledgement.
26:55Yes, Sir James Bevan.
26:58This is Ash Smith. Windrush against sewage pollution.
27:01We sent an e-mail...
27:01We sent a lot of e-mails.
27:03Ash.
27:04What?
27:05Ash.
27:06Yes, I'll hold.
27:07I want a bloody phone.
27:08They want us to come in.
27:09Who?
27:15Fucking hell.
27:17Ellie of the Beast.
27:25Very nice to meet you.
27:26Hello there, Lucy Hunt.
27:27Please do sit down.
27:28Sir James is on the, on the, on the premises, I...
27:31Erm, he's...
27:32I think he's at a meeting.
27:34He's been called out.
27:34He's been called out to an instant.
27:35I was hoping he might be even present in the meeting.
27:38Not this kind of meeting, though.
27:40He's...
27:40I just wanted to start with, erm, a few questions about integrity.
27:45Because I see that the agency's former director of operations joined the board of British Water while he was working
27:52for the agency, which means that your COO was moonlighting for the water companies while he was regulating them.
28:01So what do we...
28:02Oh dear.
28:02What do we call that?
28:03Well, I think moonlighting is a pretty strong word.
28:05Yeah.
28:06Erm...
28:07Definition.
28:07What I would say is that, erm, Toby Willison no longer works for the agency.
28:11That's the first point.
28:12And when he, er, decided...
28:14But how does that affect when he was here, though?
28:17The fact that he's not here doesn't...
28:19Well, I'm coming onto that.
28:20His declarations, with all due respect, his declarations of interest were noted at the time.
28:25Right.
28:25And any risks at all, and we do take these things very seriously, were appropriately managed.
28:29Yes, but then Mr Willison was hired by a water company as it stood trial on 51 counts of sewage
28:36dumping.
28:37How is that not a case of conflict of interest?
28:40Ah, well, er, very clear rules, which was what I was going to say.
28:44Yes.
28:44Very clear, clear rules around conflict of interest were put in place as soon as Mr Willison decided
28:50to take up his new job.
28:51So, er, he stepped out of any relevant discussions.
28:54Erm, we, we did everything we could to...
28:57Well, the judge ruled that all criminal activity in that case was masterminded from the top of the company.
29:03So, was Mr Willison involved in the decision not to prosecute southern executives?
29:07Was it...
29:08We, I mean, we can't comment on that.
29:10No.
29:10We can't comment.
29:11Yeah, we don't talk about internal meetings.
29:15Well, how many water company executives has the agency prosecuted?
29:21Well, criminal prosecution's quite a high bar.
29:25That's it.
29:26If we had evidence that the offence was serious enough, we wouldn't hesitate to prosecute.
29:31But there is no substantiated evidence.
29:33We've just given you evidence.
29:34But it's not substantiated.
29:36A board sanctioned plan for seven years of continuous dumping was not enough evidence.
29:46Thanks so much.
29:47We'll be in touch.
29:49Congratulations.
29:51Thanks so much.
29:52Yeah, I hope that goes well.
30:06I'm going to get another one.
30:10You're going to have another Flake 99?
30:13Eileen thinks I've got an obsessive streak.
30:16Well, she's not wrong, is she?
30:23What the hell was that?
30:25Or did you think they'd be more grateful for our disclosures about revolving doors?
30:31Did they really think that that was all right, working for both of them at the same time?
30:35And I think you're taking it personally.
30:37I am.
30:37You know, I mean, for me it's an occupational hazard.
30:39I feel like I've been beaten up.
30:42That's how I feel.
30:43And I've never been beaten up.
30:44We're getting somewhere.
30:45We're making a difference.
30:47We're clearly up against something bigger.
31:01You know?
31:03We're looking at some conflicts.
31:05We're breaking people down after the shooting.
31:05Here, boys!
31:06Here, boys!
31:09Isn't this a given tuh?
31:21There's no massive amount of power.
31:22You know,
31:30There's really a lot of people around us.
31:31Nobody counts saying like,
31:31I'm sorry.
32:13Right, see, no, she's not going to be back from football till about seven, so...
32:18What?
32:19Just tell her to put that in the micro.
32:24You look nice.
32:27What is it?
32:32Erm...
32:34You know, erm...
32:37Tony's got that flat down the Arrendale Road.
32:40He's not using.
32:42Well, erm, he said that I can stop there for a bit if I want, you know, just...
32:48Just while I do the Tesco job, like.
32:54Yeah, erm...
32:55Good idea.
32:58Might be better more, innit?
33:00Yeah.
33:01Yeah.
33:05I'm going to be late, so...
33:12All right.
33:19All right.
33:20All right.
33:20Yeah.
33:29See ya.
33:29See ya.
33:46All right, babe?
33:47You all right, Dad?
33:50I've got your pizza in here if you want it.
33:51I'm not hungry.
33:54I've got a project, so...
33:57I might just...
33:58All right, yeah.
33:58We'll have it later, shall we?
34:00Yeah.
34:01If we get hungry.
34:02All right.
34:14All right.
34:15Do you want anything, babe?
34:28You all right, Val?
34:30Mm-hmm.
34:30God, look at you.
34:32What's going on, Mum?
34:33Mm-hmm.
34:35Mm-hmm.
34:56Yeah.
34:59Yeah.
35:01Yeah.
35:01If you watch the video, it's really not as bad as you think it is.
35:05No, it's not.
35:06Oh.
35:07There it is.
35:08Is there sound on this?
35:09I don't know.
35:11So, there it is.
35:12Mm-hmm.
35:13Mm-hmm.
35:13Oh, no.
35:13Yeah.
35:14Let's click for it.
35:17Yeah.
35:18Mm-hmm.
35:25Mm-hmm.
35:26Mm-hmm.
35:26It's almost certainly farm runoff.
35:29Mm-hmm.
35:29Almost certainly.
35:30Yeah.
35:31We believe, yeah.
35:32And we do have a responsibility to report that to the Environment Agency.
35:37Environment Agency.
35:38So, we'd say...
35:39Blimey.
35:40This is due to the farm.
35:42Mm-hmm.
35:42The farms.
35:43And that is what has led to this overspill.
35:48Mm-hmm.
35:48That's really nice.
35:48I love that as well.
35:49That was very good.
35:51So, though there have been storm-activated overspills.
35:55It's possible.
35:56The discolouration of the water is because of agricultural runoff.
36:01Exactly, yeah.
36:01We are sorry about this, and we will do everything in our power
36:07to improve the situation, but some of it is not our fault.
36:11Well, I think if we can just own it.
36:13It is not our fault.
36:14Yeah, exactly.
36:14I think we just own it.
36:15It's the farmer's fault.
36:17I can use the hands, and I think that helps the audience
36:20to feel like I'm one of them.
36:22Yeah.
36:23You very much do fit in as well with one of them.
36:25You know, you're almost one of them in many ways.
36:29Yes.
36:30Yes.
36:30I thought, hi-vis, a pair of those wrap-around goggles
36:33that kind of skiers wear.
36:34You've got those, city.
36:35Yeah.
36:35And a hard hat.
36:36I hear your frustration.
36:39I really do.
36:40Smashed it.
36:41I thought it was amazing.
36:42So, you know, we've been getting a lot of these sickness reports
36:45coming in from the southwest.
36:47Well, they've asked us if we wanted to go to a meeting down there.
36:50It's kind of a national thing.
36:51There's going to be water company bosses there.
36:54And I think we should go, shouldn't we?
36:57We've done a huge amount of research at the UK Council of Water
36:59on levels of public trust in the water industry.
37:03And what we've found generally is that levels of public trust
37:07are actually pretty high.
37:10Well, you might laugh, but...
37:12Guy, I actually, I do get it.
37:14There's been a lot of pain.
37:16There's been a lot of frustration.
37:17And I get that.
37:18We have the only bathing status river in this country.
37:20And we have 2,000 people there in the summer
37:22with their kids, with fishing nets, sitting amongst turds.
37:27We're all passionate about the environment.
37:30We're passionate about water quality.
37:31It's the driving force behind what we do.
37:34No.
37:34Can you answer why, then?
37:35My son's been so ill from 2022 after a day on the beach
37:40and then contracted hepatitis A.
37:44That is the week before we went on our holiday.
37:48That's the week after in hospital.
37:51That's the week later when he's starting to get jaundice
37:55and he's starting to get bilirubin.
37:57And that, that's from something called cholestasis,
38:00which affects your gallbladder.
38:02He itched like crazy.
38:04These scars are still around.
38:07He can't stand without them hurting.
38:09Through school, I missed about properly three, four months.
38:13And even when I was at school, I was, like, tired.
38:17I was dropping to sleep.
38:18I couldn't remember half the stuff I learned.
38:21And it took a lot, a long time to sort of build back up,
38:24a sort of friendship group.
38:27Erm...
38:28And it also led to, like, a lot of bullying.
38:31People saying, oh, you went in the water, all this dirty water,
38:34a human poo in it and stuff like that.
38:37Erm, I used to do a lot of farming, helping my dad.
38:40It just wipes you out, you've got no energy, you can't do anything.
38:43You just, you just had to stop.
38:46Every feedback that you give us is, you know,
38:49really, really important to us.
38:50I didn't know at the time, but Surfers Against Sewage
38:53explained that there was 342 hours of raw sewage
38:57that was released into the beach that I was swimming on.
39:00This particular strep bacteria entered my bloodstream
39:03and started growing on my heart valve,
39:05so I had to have a heart replacement.
39:07I was in hospital for six weeks.
39:09I ended up having, erm, open-heart surgery.
39:12The health and wellbeing of our customers
39:14is at the forefront of what we do,
39:16and hearing stories like this is incredibly important to us.
39:19If I was even off...
39:20We can reflect on them, lessons will be learned going forwards.
39:22We can reflect on them going forwards.
39:24You've had to say, now listen to someone
39:26who's worked in the water industry for 40 years of his life.
39:30Prior to privatisation, if the infrastructure needed upgrading,
39:33it got it.
39:34If it needed bits of plant to be replaced, it got it.
39:37It was run like a military operation.
39:40Macquarie's come along.
39:42God help us.
39:43Asset stripped it.
39:45Sold land.
39:46Sold pumping stations.
39:48Built blocks of flats onto it.
39:50And decimated our infrastructure.
39:51This falls back to the government to re-nationalise this industry.
39:56ASAP!
40:01Get rid of the people who have asset stripped it,
40:05stripped it of millions of pounds,
40:07all your profits, all your bonuses.
40:09Keir Starmer, Steve Reid, the invisible man,
40:12do your job, and re-nationalise the water industry!
40:16Well...
40:24Mistakes are made.
40:26But I would say this, and I'd happily go on the record,
40:28I would drink water out of any tap in the United Kingdom.
40:33Sorry, would you come to Brixham and have a glass of our water?
40:37Er...
40:37Last year in May, we had an outbreak of cryptosporidium,
40:42as Susan Davies knows.
40:44It's obviously a privilege and a huge responsibility
40:48to run a water company.
40:51And it's one that I take very, very seriously.
40:53I was poisoned by cryptosporidium in the water.
40:56I was ill for such a very long time, six months or more.
41:00My body was attacking itself.
41:01My immune system was attacking itself.
41:03My injuries are life-changing.
41:05What we are committed to is improving step-by-step.
41:08And things do go wrong.
41:09Things go wrong.
41:10I put my hands up.
41:12Could you please explain to us why you got a 58% pay rise?
41:17I don't actually set my pay.
41:22It's not down to me how much I'm paid.
41:25The amount you're talking about
41:26will actually be a cost-of-living increase.
41:29Yeah, yeah.
41:31You earn 860 grand a year?
41:33We don't have a choice in our water provider.
41:36I come from Henley.
41:38We're in the Thames region.
41:40I know Ash and Peter well.
41:41How have we arrived in a situation
41:43where a privatised water industry
41:45is scamming the public,
41:47is taking off enormous profits and dividends for shareholders,
41:51paying huge bonuses to executives,
41:53and our children are getting vomiting and diarrhoea
41:55from doing what should come naturally.
41:57We do not trust you.
41:59I am.
41:59Not one water company executive has ever been prosecuted
42:03and has served prison time, quite honestly, which they should.
42:14There you go.
42:14I've got to see them.
42:16Oh.
42:16Oh.
42:18Sorry, sorry, sorry.
42:21Yeah, hello.
42:21Pete, Pete, listen to me.
42:22Mickey?
42:23Yeah?
42:23I haven't got much time, all right?
42:25River Ray outside Swindon.
42:27A sewage maze exploded.
42:30It's a crime scene,
42:31and you've got to get down there right now
42:32before they clear it up.
42:33And Pete, listen.
42:35You're a 21-carat Gita.
42:37Yeah, so are you, Mickey.
43:05The river's gone, Nash.
43:07I mean...
43:10That's...
43:10And it's not coming back.
43:22How many do you reckon?
43:25Well, killed.
43:26Mm-hmm.
43:28Hundreds.
43:29Thousands.
43:29Thousands of babies, definitely.
43:36What?
43:37Ash, I'm scared that we're running out of time.
43:44What do you mean by that?
43:45That we're running out of time to make a difference.
43:50What are you talking about?
43:51Look at this.
43:51Look at this we've got.
43:52This is...
43:53This is the best stuff.
43:54But nothing's going to happen, is it, Ash?
43:56What do you mean?
43:58Thames Water, they're going to make a statement saying
44:00that, you know, the environment is their number one priority,
44:05and the agency, they're just going to launch an investigation
44:09that we'll never hear about again.
44:12Yeah.
44:13And they're...
44:14Well, they're acting as though we don't exist.
44:17So what are you saying?
44:20I...
44:20I don't know how long we've got.
44:25We're not going to make a difference.
44:27There's no time left to make a difference.
44:30What are you talking about?
44:31Look at...
44:31Look at this we just shot.
44:35But it doesn't matter...
44:36This is not the time to pack it in.
44:38But it doesn't matter what we show them.
44:40It doesn't matter...
44:41I mean, we could show them dead bodies floating down the river.
44:43They still wouldn't do anything about it, would they?
44:46Right.
44:47We just go back, you go and watch some bloody jazz.
44:51When you think you're beaten, you don't give in.
44:54We're going to the right channels, we're doing the right thing,
44:56and nothing's coming back.
44:58And nothing's come back for years.
45:00What do you want to do?
45:02It...
45:03It's exhausting.
45:05We get nothing back.
45:07I'm not stopping.
45:09I can't.
45:11We're not stopping.
45:14Go.
45:21Hello.
45:22Yeah, no.
45:23Yeah, we're on our wafer.
45:42May 2020. Subject, Environment Agency complicit in law-breaking.
45:47Dear Sir James, over the past two years, Professor Peter Hammond and I have been documenting chronic offending by Thames
45:53water.
45:54Thames have been using our river as a cheap way to carry raw sewage out to sea and making vast
46:00profits doing so.
46:01The Environment Agency has been turning a blind eye and misrepresenting facts to the public.
46:24Peter.
46:28Peter.
46:29It's the middle of the night.
46:32What are you doing?
46:36I was worried. I couldn't sleep.
46:40Worried about what?
46:45About all the things that... all the things that live in the river.
46:52You didn't put your hands in it, did you?
46:57No.
46:58Okay.
47:02There's nothing you can do now.
47:04I... I know.
47:08I know.
47:10Okay.
47:12So...
47:13Shall we go back to bed?
47:16Yeah.
47:17Yeah.
47:17God bless her.
47:35God bless her.
47:36I'll see if she's been endiroinda.
47:36Otherwise, I'll see if she's left behind me.
47:37I'll see if that's fine.
47:37Wait, I'll see yes.
47:37Bye, Sophia.
47:38Bye.
47:39Bye, Sophia!
47:43So, I'll see you next door in the morning after the night.
48:44Ruben! Ruben!
48:47We need another whistleblower.
48:49The regulation isn't real.
48:50The government wants us to look like a regulator, but they won't let us do our job.
48:53You have a duty not to disclose confidential information to anyone not authorized to receive it!
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